It wouldn’t be a round-up post without them. However, since I scour people’s archives on a regular basis, these may not even be from the right time period…

No Anime Series is Perfect and That’s Okayby Remy Fool of the Lily Garden – I was partway through writing a post on how no anime series is perfect, inspired by a quote from Remy’s Princess Principal review, but then I stumbled across this post instead. Kudos to you, Remy – no matter how much you deprecate yourself, you still hold some inspiring words for other bloggers.

Darling in the Franxx and Hiroyuki Imaishi’s Mastery of Mecha by Kara Dennison for Crunchyroll – I’m not quite sure when I became aware of the name “Hiroyuki Imaishi” myself, but considering I’d just finished Evangelion when I got to this article, I figured someone else might be able to get some use out of it.

Juni Taisen: What Makes For a Good Story? by NegativePrimes at Curiously Dead Cat – Like the Itadakimasu Anime link below, this is a fairly new blog to me. However, the intertwining of ancient Greek concepts with modern anime makes for an interesting blend. Plus, witty footnotes in the vein of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service editor’s notes are always my gig.

Hey! Answerman – Funico in the Island of Magic by Justin Sevakis for Anime News Network – I like to dig around the Answerman archives on occasion, and seeing how the so-called “Funico” caused just as many waves in 2011 as Funiroll, Netflix and Amazon did in 2017 – 8…it gives my throat a real workout! Plus the part involving “too many simulcasts” still hasn’t gone away…

Reading Ahead in the Ancient Magus’ Bride OVAs by ZeroReq011 for Crunchyroll – If you haven’t seen the Ancient Magus’ Bride OVAs, they’re quite the treat and can slot neatly into a few hours either before or during watching the show. I don’t think there are too many OVAs that can do the same thing. Apparently the article’s name is a misnomer though (i.e. the OVAs are anime-original), which really shocked me…

12 Days of Anime 2017 Omnibusby Cuchlann at Better Living Through Symbolism – Who says a post can’t lead to a whole series of other posts on one page? Even though I had to correct this guy on the title of the second OP of Samurai Flamenco, I had a blast reading through what the tarot held for each chosen character. If you had to read one specifically though, I’ll go with the one for Chise from Ancient Magus’ Bride because the salamander is kinda cute.

Different Opinions Shouldn’t Scare You by Scott at Mechanical Anime Reviews – Despite all the strong opinions I seem to hold, I’m easily influenced by whatever I read (I found that out the hard way with Kado). Thus, Scott’s message of being able to stick to your guns while being receptive to new opinions at the same time is something I should probably learn from.

Then if the news hasn’t made the rounds to you yet…

Amazon Shuts Down Anime Strike Paid Streaming Service by Anime News Network – Fans are rejoicing after slightly over a years’ worth of dealing with the apparently terrible Strike, even though they got and financed quality shows. I’ve only ever dealt with HiDive, but if this brings me one step closer to watching something like Re:Creators legally, I’ll happily support the movement.

Is Pony Canyon USA Dead?by Chris Beveridge for the Fandom Post – Considering how much love I’ve already given to Boueibu and Rokka, it’s worrying that Pony Canyon USA may have died off…

Since it’s always so hard to restrict myself to 10 links, I’ll increase the capacity to 15 links next time…

A Magical 2017 Pts. I (Lists) and II (Categories) – the usual end of year list, with a few fun/silly categories to lighten the mood (Most Disappointing Region Lockout, anyone?). I had a lot of fun listening through my favourite OPs and EDs in preparation for this.

Another Approach to Seasonal Anime Watching – Truth be told, I didn’t think anyone would find a post about my seasonal watching habits interesting. Thus, even though I’d thought to write a post on this previously I threw that out and had to write this one from scratch.

…also, I went back to the two reviews I’ve done (one linked above) and added a “kid-friendly” rating to the “Anything else?” section. Admittedly, those two aren’t very kid-oriented, but you never know – since Tsukumo of Short Peace is quite kid-friendly (right down to the umbrella frog), someone might accidentally forget to heed the classification…If any of my future reviews (should there be any) lack one of these, feel free to call me out on it.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – Even a weak Mahoutsukai no Yome is a strong show, there’s no denying that.

Zoku Touken Ranbu Hanamaru – The status quo of a maximum of 5 long form shows + 1 short episode show was threatened by the bottom 3 contenders – Magical Girl Raising Project, Yuri!!! on Ice and Hanamaru in fall 2016. With the competition gone, it’s my sword boys’ time to shine!

Gakuen Babysitters – In what could be the most surprising decision I’ve made all year, I put Idolish7 on hold in exchange for this. Then again, I just mentioned fall 2016 being tough – this one’s tougher, simply because of the extreme imbalance caused by all these cute boys/girls doing cute things shows. (Technically, a male idol show shouldn’t count as a cute boys doing cute things show, but it fills much of the same niche.)

Dame x Prince Anime Caravan – This show’s had the least amount of time to imprint on me, but its position as a HiDive show means watch it now or buy a subscription. As you know, I wouldn’t go that far.

YuruCamp – I find Idolish7 and Miira no Kaikata to be better than this, but the season’s so lopsided I had to go with it. Plus, I get treated to a talking pinecone once a week – it’s not so bad, is it?

gd Men’s Party – Basically, anything was better than the MahoYome short episodes, even something as crazy as this.

February means less Wednesdays to punch out new content, so I’m planning to get through Valentine’s Day Singles’ Awareness Day by doing a three-post feature on 3 light novel adaptions, so drop by after the 16th of February to see the entire thing. What it entails and which shows are involved will be revealed in the posts themselves.

The coming Wednesday is the 10-week anniversary of Weekly Wednesdays, so that’s 10 weeks since the Spellbook began (Weekly Wednesday began the day after the Spellbook was created). There’s something special planned for then, so please stay tuned.

Stuff for the Winter shows on Weekly Wednesdays should be coming soon.

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